Dinner at Jamie's........

Tuesday I got a surprise at work.  Diana had come up to get her taxes done and she stopped by the store to see me!  We had a great talk and I was so happy she stopped by.  It made my whole day.

This week I had to go over to the North Logan store to help with their pre-inventory audit on Wednesday and Thursday.  I learned a lot and the girls that came from the other stores were so much fun.

Wednesday we decided to go to Olive Garden for lunch.  We had the world's worst waiter there.  He started out with the attitude that we were just annoying him to be in his presence.  Then every time he brought stuff to the table he would set it down in front of me and the girl across from me and tell us to "pass it down" (we were in a booth).  No "please" or anything nice like that.

Usually when they bring your meal they put it down in front of you and then ask if you want grated cheese or not. Nope not him,  he would leave it all on the tray and just say not ask if we all wanted cheese and then start grating, not even letting us say how much we wanted or anything.  I had to shout out that I didn't want cheese on mine and he looked at me like I was retarded.  But hey, it's my meal and if I don't want cheese on it I don't have to....jerk!

When he brought back our bills with our credit cards and change in them he just dumped them (really just dropped them) all in front of me with a pile of pens and walked off.  I had to sort them all out and pass them out to the girls. Needless to say he did NOT receive a tip from any of us!

Thursday we went to Chili's.  We had a much better experience.  The waitress was so good to us, and yes we all tipped her!

Friday I took off early and went down to Jamie's to spend time with her and the boys.  Jax was out of school early so I just hung out with him until Jamie got back from helping at another site.  Then I went up and hung out at her office until she could get off work.

Jamie, Jax and I went shopping .  We stopped at Old Navy and then went to the mall.  Jamie was trying to find things for them all to wear to a friends wedding she has coming up.  She found clothes for the boys but nothing for her.  I picked up some white tanks from Old Navy.

After shopping Jamie picked up Trevon and dropped us all off at her apartment while she went to get groceries.

She made tilipia and salad for dinner. Very good! 

After dinner Jax showed me how to play Plants vs. Zombies.  This was probably a big mistake because I ended up playing it past midnight.  Jax helped me along the way, giving me pointers on which plants to use and when. 

The boys fell asleep and I took the movie "The Brother's Grim" to Jax's room to watch.  I didn't see the whole movie because I fell asleep half way through it.  Jamie was down loading pictures on to her computer when I went upstairs.

Saturday morning I went downstairs and watched cartoons with the boys.  Is there any other way to spend a Saturday morning?  When Jamie woke up we watched "Ice Age 3".   

I took Jax home with me so that he could go to his dad's.  Johnny was at work so Jax stayed at my house until he came and picked him up.  We went to Arby's for lunch and then just hung out and watched TV and talked.  He is growing up so fast, he will be in Junior high this next year.

Dinner at Leslie's......

Yesterday morning at work I received a text from Leslie saying that Paul was working grave and that I should come out and she would do my nails, make dinner and watch a movie.  Sounded good to me...

So after I got done with my workout I headed out to Leslie's.  I kept getting texts from Miss Cambria wondering when I was going to arrive.  I was greeted at the door with huge hugs and kisses from Cambria and Braxton (this is honestly one of the best things about being a grandma). Gunner had fallen asleep on the couch.

So I went over to Gunner and started whispering in his ear to wake up.  I noticed by his head on the couch was a pile of change and when he rolled over a penny a dime and quarter were stuck to his face :). He started to wake up but wouldn't open his eyes.  So I asked him if I could give him a kiss and he just shook his head yes.  Then I asked him if I could give him a hug and he just shook his head yes.  Then I asked him if I could pick him up and hold him and he finally opened his eyes and held up his arms.

When he was fully awake he told me that the money on the couch was out of his jar and he wanted to show me how he could count it. Braxton was watching and when Gunner started counting the coins (not the value of the coins but the number of coins) Braxton said that he was doing it wrong.  Gunner just ignored him and kept counting.

Leslie made cabbage rolls and strawberry shortcake for dinner.  Very Yummy!

After we ate I had a quick tour of the house so she and the kids could show me the things they had done since the last time I was there.

Then Leslie took me into her salon (which she now has in her house) and did my nails.  She has this new polish called Shellac. It isn't acrylic so it doesn't build up or lengthen your nails.  It is like a gel polish so that you have to file the tops of the nail a bit to roughen them up so the polish will adhere better but it doesn't thin them out like when you get acrylic nails. Then you put a bottom coat, 2 coats of the polish and a top coat.  After each coat is put on you have to put your nails under a UV light for 2 minutes to set the gel.  It took about a half hour for her to do my nails this way. Acrylic takes an hour to do. When they are done you have a VERY shiny polished nail and the best part is they were dry and hard the minute they were done.  No having to be careful because you might mess up your newly polished nails. 

This is really perfect for me.  I love to have nice nails. With the acrylic it ads thickness and length which is nice for a while but then my nails get too long and they get in the way of many of the things I do. The main one being playing the piano.  Pianist CANNOT have long nails.  So the Shellac is perfect, I can have my short non existent nails and they look pretty and the Shellac lasts a lot longer than just regular nail polish.  Cambria picked out my color for me, a nice pink.

After that Braxton had decided that we should play a game, so on the couch he had laid out 3 games for us to choose from.  We played Trouble.  Gunner just wanted to push the bubble that rolled the dice and tell us what number it was.  At one point in the game Braxton kept moving his piece the wrong number of spaces.  Leslie said to him, "Braxton, you don't know how to count!"  He replied, "I know mom, it's cause I'm color blind!"  How do you possibly reply to that?!?! :)

Cambria won, I came in second and Leslie came in third.  The "color blind" kid came in last, he was more worried about trying to send us all back to the beginning then getting all his pieces home.

If nothing changes...nothing changes...a new challenge.........

So after a weekend of torturing myself with the pros and cons of taking a job back in Ogden I had my interview on Monday.  It went so smoothly!  I had 4 managers there and they each asked questions.  It was Josh, who will be the new store manager and he was an assistant at the Perry store, Vanessa, who has been an assistant manager in the Perry store, Paul and Chris.  They asked the questions and I shot the answers right back at them, no ums, or awkward pauses.  It was even FUN!

 I was at peace for the first time in about a week. I knew then that if they offered me the position I would take it.

Then the wait....I am not a patient person and waiting for the phone call to tell me if I did get the job or if I sucked didn't was almost worse than trying to decide if I should go or not.  I just wanted to know!  So Thursday afternoon I got a call from Paul telling me the position was mine if I wanted it!  Yay!!!!!  I will be starting when they take possession of the new store on April 11th. My friend Jeanell is already down there at the hiring center, she is the new personnel manager! 

The present store management was not happy with my decision.  They are losing a lot of key and good people to the new store.

Don't get me wrong.....I will miss the Perry store and my friends that I leave behind, but this is something I have to do for me on so many levels.  I am not the same person I was a year ago and it's time for a change.

So I will be a commuter once again.  It will not be a long drive and when the bad weather hits I will just have to put on my big girl panties and do it!  I've done it before. There will also be the possibility of car pooling with some of the others that will be going or maybe I will check out the bus routes and see if one will work for me.  Who knows what adventures await!?

Happy Birthday Diana!

Yesterday morning I woke up to what I love about winter.  It had snowed during the night and everything was covered in beautiful white snow!  The sun was just coming up over the mountain and everything was glistening.  The sky that was showing was already a brilliant blue. So I got out my camera and snapped some pictures to share.

Here is a look at my backyard, even the wires to the house were coated with snow....

This is my maple tree....so pretty...... 

This is looking down my driveway at the mountain.  The plows had already been out this morning so as you can see my work was cut out for me.  Oh well, a great way to burn off some calories....... 

I had just started shoveling when Carol and her husband and their son-in-law Troy came over with their 4wheeler and shovels.  We made quick time of the almost foot of snow in my driveway and the 2 feet the @#%^ plows had left at the end of the drive.  The 4wheeler is light so Carol (who probably weighs in at 110 on a good day) had to sit on the back to add some 'weight' for traction.  She looked like a rag doll every time Bill hit the pile of snow left by the plows. I told her she was going to be suffering from whip lash by the end of the day.

While they were finishing my drive Troy went over to my neighbors (whose husband just had open heart surgery) and started on their drive.  The neighbor on my other side was just coming out and putting her little girl in the car so she could go to work and looked at the end of her drive and then at her car.  Carol and I went over and started shoveling her out until Bill came with the 4 wheeler.

I'm not sure how many more people they helped out but I'm sure glad they were there to help me, I would have been at it for hours (okay a little exaggeration).

At work it was inventory week.  I got to work the marathon from last Monday to Friday this week. Inventory was Wednesday.  We did great, my shrink number came down from .40 to .31!  The market goal for us was .39.  This was my second inventory but my first of me being in the office the full year.
Bob was very happy with me.

Speaking of Bob.....he has been our store manager for 8 years now.  His last day was Thursday.  He is going to manage the Chubbock Idaho store.  It is a promotion for him and a move that he has needed to make.  That being said it didn't make it any easier for us to say goodbye to him.  He is a great friend and I've learned a lot from him.  In the world of retail he is one of the best bosses that I have had.

Sooooo I am thinking of transferring to the new Ogden store.  I have an interview Monday at 1pm with Josh Bambrough, who used to be one of our assistant managers but will be the manager of the new store.  I've been praying and pondering this move for the last couple of weeks and it has been on my mind all weekend.

I, sadly, am a creature of habit.  Change is not easy for me.  My life has been so full of changes, not all of which were in my control.  So when I am in control I tend to settle in and get comfortable.  So in my head I keep going over the pros and cons to this move and really the main argument against going is the commute.  It is not a terrible drive, it is only going to be a little farther than when I worked for Fred Meyer and drove to Ogden, it will probably take me 25-30 minutes.  But when we have those bad weather days the drive can be torturous.  The price of gas is not helping the argument either, but I could get a little raise if their base hiring rate is more than ours.

I'm intrigued at the prospect of going in to a new store and proving myself as a Invoice/UPC associate.  The challenge seems to be calling me.  I have gone through a lot of changes both physically and personally this last year and I feel myself getting restless.  Our store could be in for some huge changes because there are several of us that are interviewing this week.

"If nothing changes....nothing changes!"

So I find out that I'm not a dog person.....

Everyone said how I needed a dog.  That I'd have something to walk with.  That I wouldn't be so lonely. Blah Blah Blah Yadda Yadda Yadda........

So I got a dog.  She was a good dog, house trained, crate trained, smart, what more could you want in a dog?!  She was even a double champion.  I tried for over a month to form some kind of bond with her.  It just wasn't happening. 

I couldn't take the mess of her tracking up my floors, and shedding all over everything or finding accidents when the dog door was right there and I was in a hurry to go somewhere (like work).  I couldn't take her being under my feet ALL the time.  I felt like I was being tied down to my house, not being able to go whenever I wanted to, for as long as I wanted to because I had a dog to worry about.

I have lived alone for 10 years now.  This last spring/summer I was walking at least 2 miles a day, and I didn't need something to take for a walk to get me going.  I was happy walking on my own.  For one thing I walk for exercise not to be social, so I push myself and to tell the truth a dog would slow me down. 

As far a dog helping me not be so lonely.....She couldn't carry on a conversation with me, couldn't go to the movies or shopping, or anything with me.  Just having her in the house didn't help the loneliness I sometimes feel.  My sisters both said that there is nothing better that a warm dog in your bed at night......I can think of A LOT of better things.

Maybe I'm just too OCD to deal with a dog, maybe it's because I've never had a pet (other than birds) but whatever the case I took Chris back to Kathy yesterday. Chris and I just were NOT giving each other what the other needed.  When I got back home later that day I immediately felt more zen. 

Don't get wrong, I love dogs, I just can't live with them at this point in my life.  So don't think poorly of me.  Kathy was very understanding and I do appreciate everything that she and Mike did for me to try to help the situation.

So yesterday after I dropped off Chris I went over to Leslie's.  Jamie and Leslie and all the kids were there.  Jamie and Leslie went shopping Friday for things for their homes and then Jamie and the boys spent the night at Leslie's so that they could do some decorating of Leslie's new house.  I went over to see the progress they were making and to give the kids their Valentines goodies.

Leslie's house is looking very cute.  The kids loved their Valentines and I got to spend time with my family (much better than sitting at home with Chris).  Cambria has been sick for the past couple of days so she was not her usual active self.  But the boys were loving having each other to play with.

Gunner was at the counter drawing and I heard him complaining of his elbow hurting so I turned around to see what was wrong and as I did he said again, "my elbow hurts" while grabbing his RIBS.  So Leslie asked him what these were (pointing to her ribs) and he said elbows.  So we had a little anatomy lesson and he finally got it right.

Utah FIRST LEGO League Championship......................

So Jax's Lego League competed in the first annual Lego League Championship this yesterday at the University of Utah.  This meant that I had to get up at 4:30A.M. on a Saturday morning to be down to the University of Utah by 8:00 a.m. What I don't do to support my grandchildren.......:)

At the beginning of the school year Jax joined the Lego League. It is the first time that they have had it. To get in he had to write an essay about why he wanted to be in the league.  Then he had to be at the school EVERY Saturday morning from 8 until 11:30. 

This league is sponsored by Lego and everything they use to build their robot must be Lego items. They design and build a robot then they have to program it to do certain tasks.  They also learn how to research and work together as a team and other assigned tasks.  It is a great program and Jax has really enjoyed it.

Here is Jax in the 'pit' waiting for things to begin.......

They had a parade of teams to start out the event. Here is Jax with his team, The Atomic Inventing Mindbending Scientific8ors...or AIMS.

The competition consisted of several events. 
Core Values-where the teams are observed as the complete a hands on teamwork activity, participate in an interview with judges and are observed throughout the competition.
Robot Designs
Project-where their teams identify an existing problem in the scientific specialty related to the Challenge, and find a solution to that problem.
Robot Games Match- this is where they put their robots through specific tasks and receive points for completing the tasks in a given amount of time.  Each team had three matches.

The Matches were the only things we were allowed to watch. They didn't want the parents to be in the other events as to not influence how the kids responded to their other tasks.

Here is Jax's team in their first match..I think Jax was a little nervous.....

 Here is a closeup of their robot.....

Note the referee in the funny hat.  All the refs wore crazy hats.  The teams all deigned their own team t-shirts and outfits.  It was very colorful and crazy.  Only two team members at a time were allowed at the game table to run the robot.  In the last match Jax had his chance to control the robot.

There were 56 teams from elementary and junior high schools that came to compete.  It went until 5 that afternoon.  They did a great job of keeping everything running on time and smoothly. At 4 they handed out the trophies, unfortunately Jax's team did not receive one. Everyone did get a medallion.  These are a smart bunch of kids.  Jax would talk about things and I was amazed at what he knew.  I have a few more pictures on my FB page it you want to look.

Meet Ch This Is All I Ask...........

My friend Conly's parents raise and show dogs.  They have a dalmatian and 3 smooth fox terrier.  Kathy (Conly's mom) wanted to get a new dalmatian puppy to raise and show.  Mike (Conly's dad) said she could get the puppy but only if they got rid of one of their dogs.  Four dogs is his limit I guess.... so they needed to find a home for Ch This Is All I Ask...aka Chris.

Chris is a 4 year old champion smooth fox terrier. Her parents are Ch Tudex Raybill Doubloon and Ch Honky Tonk Angel. For some reason show dogs have the most interesting names. She no longer competes in shows and they tried to breed her but she wouldn't cooperate....

So me...being the sucker  kind hearted person that I am told them that I would take the dog.

This is Chris.....I could barely get her to stand still so I could take this.....

Such a cute face....... 

Everyone seemed to think that I needed a dog.  Don't get me wrong, I love dogs but I've never owned one.  I have been living alone since Leslie got married (10 years ago).  That being said...it has been a challenge to get used to having a dog around.  I've had her for 3 weeks now and I've had to make several adjustments to the house.

She is a good dog, crate trained and house trained.  Mike, Kathy and Conly have been great helping me.  Mike and Conly came over and finished the fence in the front of my back yard and doggified the back yard for me.  Then Mike and Kathy brought over an extra dog door that they had and Mike installed it and put up a move able fence so she can go right out my side door and into the back yard and then I don't have to worry about coming home and letting her out, and then I can roll up the fencing if I need to use the backdoor. 

I've bought 3 gates, one keeps her out of my living room, I needed a dog hair free room for company.  One keeps her out of the back hall and bedrooms.  I had to put Pesto in Leslie's old bedroom that I've turned into a computer/work room.  Chris wanted to eat him and then she knows he is in that bedroom and kept trying to dig her way under the door and I didn't need my carpet being tore up.The last gate I put up to keep her out of the family room while I'm at work or away. This way she doesn't have to stay in her crate all day, and she can be in the kitchen or outside.  These all may not be permanent once we get more accustomed to each other.

She has had only 3 accidents in the house, 2 downstairs and one in the kitchen.  The one in the kitchen was, I'm pretty sure, because she was mad at me.  I'd been in the computer room for quite a while and she can't come in there because of Pesto sooo she peed in the kitchen instead of going out the doggy door.

She loves to play ball and will keep bringing the ball back to you even if your arm is falling off and her tongue is dragging the ground. 

She sleeps in her crate because I just don't want dog hair in my bed, plus the fact that I don't like anything touching me when I'm really tired and want to sleep, but she is used to that.  She's used to spending a good part of her day in a crate coming from a house with 4 show dogs, so here she actually has more freedom then she used to get. 

Last night she decided that maybe the couch in the family room would be a good place to stay the night.  I turned off the light and called her and she just sat there looking at me, so I went over to get her and she rolled over on her back. I gently pulled her off the couch and headed towards the stairs.  I turned to see her jumping back onto the couch.  But guess what?  I won........

When she eats, she gobbles it down so fast that she lets out a belch when she is finished.

I watched Braxton and Gunner Saturday night while Leslie and Paul went to dinner.  They loved Chris and she had a great time playing ball with them.  Braxton at one point said "Chris sure likes her cousin Braxton".

So do I like having a dog?  Well the jury is still out on that.....we'll see.